Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation

Valerii Kravets is a Bucharest-based program coordinator for GMF Black Sea Trust. He focuses on Ukraine-related programming and supports initiatives aimed at strengthening electoral integrity across the Eastern Partnership countries. He also works to strengthen local governance, advance European integration processes, and foster international cooperation. He has contributed to projects funded by USAID, the EU (ProElect, Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership - ERICS), and the Porticus Foundation.

Prior to joining GMF, Kravets gained over a decade of senior-level experience in the private sector, most recently as deputy director for development at ATB Corporation, one of Ukraine’s largest companies. In this role, he was responsible for national development strategy; public-private partnership projects; cooperation with ministries, state-owned enterprises, and local governments; supporting M&A transactions; and driving digital transformation initiatives.

Kravets holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and enterprise management from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, a bachelor’s degree in law from Dnipro Humanitarian University, and a master’s degree in administrative management from Dnipro Polytechnic. He also studied at the University of Economics and Management in Prague.

He is a native speaker of Ukrainian and Russian and is fluent in English and Romanian.

Miruna Gheorghe is a Bucharest-based program coordinator for GMF’s Black Sea Trust (BST). She supports EU-funded initiatives, including the Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership- ERICS project, which strengthens the resilience of civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries. She oversees EU visibility and communications for the BST office and coordinates convenings.

Gheorghe previously worked with NaTakallam (which hires refugees and conflict-affected people as online tutors, teachers, and translators), the UN Youth Delegation of Romania, and other international organizations, focusing on human rights, youth engagement, and cross-cultural cooperation. She holds a master’s degree in security and defense, with a focus on human rights. She speaks English, French, and German, in addition to her native Romanian.